Let’s look at a few facts to start off with…

Inflation: 1729.9%
% of Population below the poverty line: 80%
Unemployment: 80%
GDP Growth: -4.7%
(cite)

Now that’s a seriously stuffed up economy. It wasn’t always like that, of course. Sure, it’s not a first-world country but with some prudent economic management they could have been in a far better position than they are. Pissing off other countries to the extent that they can’t give you aid and the UN can’t supply you with food doesn’t help matters. You may think that there are strict sanctions against Zimbabwe however these are only directed at just over one hundred officials of the ruling political party. Maybe Mugabe should have thought a little harder before wasting so much money in the Second Congo War.

The real problem is that although Zimbabwe is technically a democracy, allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation, etc. have been rife, making it pretty difficult to be involved in the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

No more so was this exemplified than recently when it was reported that the leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, was beaten whilst in custody for attending a prayer meeting (yes, that’s right - a prayer meeting, see the article). Now, people are being restricted from leaving the country.

So what is to be done? Surely it can’t continue. Life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe has almost halved in the last 10 years. How screwed up is that? Sadly there aren’t a whole lot of strong, stable nations in the region that can step in and do something. South Africa has been the go-to-man in the past but it’s obviously not working very well (if at all). It wasn’t very long ago at all that South Africa was under apartheid so the memories of oppressive regimes can’t surely be forgotten already? Forget that - South Africa is having a hard enough time containing HIV/AIDS, let alone helping out foreign nations with their problems.

Regime change should be considered. You can’t simply wait for Mugabe to die - the power vacuum could be more catastrophic than the current situation. Of course ousting Mugabe now would destabilise it even further, but if there was an international force in Zimbabwe then that could help to alleviate any friction leading to a real democratic government. The UN sat on it’s hands in places like Rwanda, Dafur - what an excellent chance to actually do something to help Africa before the catastrophe fully unfolds.

It is said that for evil to triumph all that is required is for good men to do nothing. And it’s working.